Having it all...

You know, women used to talk about having it all. A loving husband, 2.5 wonderful children, a lovely suburban home, a challenging job, an active social life, and time to devote to church and civic activities. But one thing I found is that there is no ALL. When I was in business school, I spoke to the Dean about women getting their MBAs. The GSB program had the highest male, female ratio in our class of all of the major programs. I asked him more about that given that an article had come out in BusinessWeek about women who "drop out" of corporate careers to raise their children. He said that he was aware that women tended to have a shorter career span, but that many went on to lead in other areas and the CEOs are not the only way to measure business success. I have thought back to that conversation a lot. What is success anyhow? Today, I went back to work after my maternity leave. And for a day, I felt what it was like to have it all. Rushing out of the door in the morning to drop off J at a friend's house. Making sure I picked him up on time after dropping my the grocery store to get food for dinner. Spending about an hour and half with him before he fell asleep. Then working on MR for another 4 hours. A lot of my co-workers asked me if I was sad, but I did not really feel it today. But when I got home and saw him, I definitely see how hard this can get. I am not sure where it goes from here. A loving child, a growing business and a job I love, so where is the line drawn? These several months of working on MR and spending time with J have been so precious to me. And I have never been happier. But I am not sure how this story ends. For now, I am seeing how things go and going from there. Here is a favorite photo of mine I took with a tripod and self-timer. We were hanging out doing goofy pics one day a few weeks ago. :) I want to post this so I can look at this at work tomorrow.